Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

The extremely rare and historically important Portuguese Marshall General's uniform tailcoat attributed to General Sir William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, the major original elements of heavy bullion embroidery and gilt brass buttons united by a later body and sleeves, the high collar, facings, cuffs, tail slit and pocket borders, and pocket flaps all profusely embroidered with laurel scrolls, artillery trophies on pockets, each button with five escutcheons forming a cross (a fundamental element of Portuguese royal heraldry) within a wreath, hook and eye fastenings, c.1816.

In 1806, against the background of instability caused by the wars of Napoleonic France, the Portuguese army was restructured by a royal decree of 16th May, and a new hierarchy of general officer ranks was created. At its apex was the rank of Marshal General, reserved for the monarch, his heir and by special appointment a general officer selected to represent the throne as supreme commander of the Portuguese armed forces. From July 1809 this delegated royal authority was vested in Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington), who had recently recommended Beresford for the post of Commander in Chief of the Portuguese army.

Beresford carried out a series of far reaching and successful reforms of the Portuguese army and participated in many of the important actions of the Peninsular War. He was in command of the allied army that defeated the French under Marshal Soult at the bloody battle of Albuhera, 16th May 1811. In 1816 he succeeded Wellington in the post of Marshal General, continuing to play a role in Portuguese military and political affairs until he was ousted from his position by the Liberal Revolution of 1820.

Although two further appointments to the position of Marshal General were made in the 1830s, the form of the uniform had by this time undergone certain alterations from that established in 18061. The uniforms of King João and his heir Prince Miguel are known not to have conformed to regulation types, often being far more elaborate2. Thus there were only two officers of this rank to whom the 1806 regulations would have applied: Wellington and Beresford. The Duke of Wellington's coat is currently held at Apsley House, and so the only candidate for original ownership of this coat is Beresford. The embroidered parts of this uniform have been known to Portuguese collectors since at least the time of the first centenary of the Peninsular War at which time they were photographed for one of the numerous associated exhibitions.

Provenance: from a private Portuguese collection.

1. As seen in an 1827 portrait of King Miguel I by Johann Nepomuk Ender, in the Portuguese Ajuda and Queluz National Palaces collection.

2. Pedro Soares Branco, 'Família Real Uniformes' (pub. Fronteira do Caos, 2019); and as seen in various royal paintings.